Tailings

The articles tailings and dead rock overlap thematically. Help me to better differentiate or merge the articles (→  instructions ) . To do this, take part in the relevant redundancy discussion . Please remove this module only after the redundancy has been completely processed and do not forget to include the relevant entry on the redundancy discussion page{{ Done | 1 = ~~~~}}to mark. Flominator 8:21 PM , Apr 30, 2013 (CEST)

Mine dump with access road, Loos-en-Gohelle , 2006

In mining, tailings or mountains are the name given to the deaf bedrock that occurs when mineral resources are extracted. These are rock masses that are mined when the minerals to be extracted are mined in the hanging and lying walls of the deposit , when sinking shafts and driving underground stretches.

The term is particularly common in underground coal mining, in ore mining it is more of a separator or mass , in opencast mining of overburden or intermediate resources .

Definition of terms

In the classic sense, according to Scheuchenstuel , they are called mountains or tailings

"[...] those metalless pieces of rock that fall off during mining and either serve to fill the empty, no longer required spaces in the pit (for moving , see A.) or are conveyed out (see A.) and into large piles (Halden, see A.) to be poured (overturned, see A.). "

- C. v. Scheuchenstuel : Idioticon of the Austrian mountain and hut language

The term stands in contrast to overburden, which denotes rock that was removed ("cleared") in open-cast mining in order to directly reach economically usable rock layers.

The superordinate term “ deaf rock ” describes rock material that cannot be used, regardless of whether it has already been erupted or is still in the original mountain range.

The overarching term heap , sometimes out of date also referred to as hog , refers to rock material that has already been excavated ( loosened from the mountain range), poured in or piled up after a blast, regardless of whether it contains usable components (“valuable minerals”) or not.

Development in the Ruhr area

In the Ruhr area before 1920, when many steep seams were still being mined by hand, almost all of the tailings were returned to the pit and used there as a backfill .

However, due to increasing mechanization and the relocation of coal production to flat coal seams, the resulting tailings had to be stored above ground and were mostly piled up near the mine. This is how the typical and widely visible mine dumps were created in the vicinity of the mines.

See also

• Halden in the Ruhr area

literature

• Heinrich Veith: Mountain . In: German mountain dictionary with evidence . Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn, Breslau 1871, p. 62–63 ( digitized version [accessed August 12, 2020]).
• Ernst-Ulrich Reuther: Introduction to mining. 1st edition. Verlag Glückauf GmbH, Essen 1982, ISBN 3-7739-0390-1 .
• Heinz Kundel: coal production. 6th edition. Verlag Glückauf GmbH, Essen 1983, ISBN 3-7739-0389-8 .
• Walter Bischoff , Heinz Bramann, Westfälische Berggewerkschaftskasse Bochum: The small mining dictionary. 7th edition. Verlag Glückauf GmbH, Essen 1988, ISBN 3-7739-0501-7 .

Web links

• RAG data recovery material (PDF file; 373 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} C. von Scheuchenstuel: Idioticon of the Austrian mountain and hut language, for a better understanding of the Austrian mountain law. 270 p., Wilhelm Braumüller, Vienna, 1856. (digitized version)
2. ↑ Steinkohle Portal ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.